My gardening world was temporarily put on hold this last weekend as I went to visit my close friend Suz, down in Durham, North Carolina. It was a much-needed girls weekend. I still feel a little lightheaded from the feasting of debaucherous proportions, mindless, fluff movies and the third pedicure of my life. But, I mean lightheaded . . . in a good way.
Weeding, dead-heading, mulching and harvesting were replaced by pulled pork BBQ, fried okra, hush puppies, Durham Bulls baseball stadium hot dogs, some crazily yummy baked goods from a local bakery - Guglhupf, as well as shrimp and grits. I also made my yearly pilgrimage to Foster's Market. As they say, "When in Rome" - yada-yada-yada. Excuses, excuses.
I took only one picture. Of the BBQ place - The Q Shack. You can see, I had my priorities straight. While packing on Sunday, I feared that I might need a U-Haul rental trailer for the extra junk in my own, er, trunk.
So, I'm off to go find something green to eat . . . something with color. Oh, yes, and my running shoes.
I am also thinking of okra for next year's garden. Inspired by my trip to North Carolina. Cause fried anything rarely sucks.
Weeding, dead-heading, mulching and harvesting were replaced by pulled pork BBQ, fried okra, hush puppies, Durham Bulls baseball stadium hot dogs, some crazily yummy baked goods from a local bakery - Guglhupf, as well as shrimp and grits. I also made my yearly pilgrimage to Foster's Market. As they say, "When in Rome" - yada-yada-yada. Excuses, excuses.
I took only one picture. Of the BBQ place - The Q Shack. You can see, I had my priorities straight. While packing on Sunday, I feared that I might need a U-Haul rental trailer for the extra junk in my own, er, trunk.
So, I'm off to go find something green to eat . . . something with color. Oh, yes, and my running shoes.
I am also thinking of okra for next year's garden. Inspired by my trip to North Carolina. Cause fried anything rarely sucks.
7 comments:
Sounds wonderful!
My family is originally from that part of the world too. I still go down to Mt. Olive every once in a while (where the pickles come from) to go visit my Grandparents.
I have to say that Southern Cooking is one of the reasons that I've never been able to seriously consider being vegetarian. Although I respect the environmental ethic, the health reasons, and the humane treatment of animals, I was raised in a home where even vegetables were always prepared with bacon. Maybe someone should make a Southern cooking for Vegetarians cookbook?
Actually it was my love of the magestic Bald Cypress swamps in that corner of the world that first interested me in wetland ecology. It wasn't too long that I discovered that Venus flytraps also live in that corner of the world (and only there). Pretty soon, I was hooked. You wouldn't hink one could connect N.C. Style barbecue with a life long passion for carnivorous plants... but there it is!
I realized, after the post, how vegetarians would be horrified by my feast this past weekend. Believe it or not, I was a vegetarian through most of college . . . A Southern cook book for vegetarians would be on my shelf - if it existed . . . we have, however, recently discovered that the fake bacon is really, REALLY satisfying. And great to cook/mix with veggies. I don't know how to find my way around without pulled pork BBQ, though!
Ex vegee here! And, I may be one again down the road. But for now, I'd be sitting at the table with y'all.
I love okra. You do need to grow it. I'm trying red okra this year. Should be interesting. Pickled red okra? Who knows what color it will turn after it's pickled?
P.S. My husband makes the best Bar B Que (or as you say- pulled pork bar b que) that I've ever tasted. No, really!
Katie,
Promise you will post pictures of the red okra?
And to have an in-house BBQ expert . . . I'm jealous!
I saw the Red Okra over by Gearhearts Chocolates last year. It took me a while to recognize it since the flowers were so beautiful, that I thought it was just an ornamental. It wasn't just the okra that was red but the entire plant! The pods were what gave it away eventually. After seeing the flowers it was then I also realized it was a member of the hibiscus family (and an attractive one at that). An hibiscus that's good in Gumbo... you can't get better than that!
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